Reference no: EM132182939

There are many viewpoints regarding the practice of intercultural communication, but a familiar one is that “people are people,” basically pretty much alike; therefore, increased interaction through travel, student exchange programs, and other such ventures should result in more understanding and friendship between nations. Others take a quite different view, particularly those who have done research in the field of speech communication and are fully aware of the complexities of interpersonal interaction, even within cultural groups. They do not equate contact with communication and do not believe that the simple experience of talking with someone insures a successful transfer of meanings and feelings. Even basic commonalities of birth, hunger, family, and death are perceived and treated in vastly different ways by persons with different backgrounds. If there is a universal, it might be that each has been so subconsciously influenced by his own cultural upbringing that he assumes that the needs, desires, and basic assumptions of others are identical to his own. (passage from LaRay M. Barna’s Intercultural Communication Stumbling Blocks, page 66)